The present invention relates to a new multi-flavored dairy product comprising pasta filata cheese having ingredients homogenously distributed, dispersed and intimately incorporated and bound therein. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-flavored dairy product obtained by adding to the cheese, during the "filatura" step, ingredients of vegetable and/or animal source, selected from the group consisting of fruit, vegetables, meat, spices, farinaceous food, greens and the like. This invention relates moreover to a process for producing said dairy product as well as and its use in stuffing food, for example pizza, savoury flans and cakes, as a "filler" for pasta, gastronomic preparations and sandwiches, or as a true flavouring for typical dishes such as spaghetti, macaroni and the like.
With "pasta filata cheese" all products having a substantially identical production scheme are meant, said scheme being characterized by a technological step involving kneading in hot water, that is the property of casein to be "stretched" into rope-like strand or reduced into filaments or thin threads at a particular moment of the pasta filata manufacturing and under particular acidity and temperature conditions, that is when the curd has become "ripe".
Curd ripening is a phenomenon of partial retexturing of the casein reticule carried out by lactic acid produced by lactic fermentation or by added organic acids acting so as to catch calcium contained in calcium phosphocaseinate and demineralize it.
Anyway, the term "pasta filata" includes several varieties of cheeses having variable shapes and sizes, requiring ripening periods ranging from some hours in case of mild soft cheese (mozzarella, fiordilatte) to some days in case of semisoft cheese (provola) and up to 5-6 months or one year for semihard cheese (provolone).
In any case, when pasta filata type products are mentioned, it is necessary to distinguish between soft or semisoft products (buffalo milk mozzarella, fiordilatte, scamorza, provola) and hard products (caciocavallo, provolone, burrino). So buffalo milk mozzarella is an unripened soft foodstuff exclusively obtained with whole buffalo milk, is in the shape of a ball, and its rind should be very thin, soft and edible and should be easy to peel off from the main piece. On the other hand, "Fiordilatte" is a soft cheese made from cow's milk and generally is in the shape of spheroids and ovals.
In general terms, it is possible to state that all pasta filata cheeses are obtained by a working scheme essentially comprising the following steps: milk treatment, acidification (by adding ferments or organic acids such as citric acid), addition of rennet, curdling, cutting of the curd, extraction of whey, kneading and stretching in hot water ("filatura"), shaping, cooling and stiffening, packaging with or without a conservation (preserving) liquid of the final product. Therefore, differences that can be found in the different preparations are due to the kind of milk used and to the variation of technology adopted, and the products thus obtained are quite similar to one another.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,730,447, issued on Jan. 10, 1956, R. A. Boyer describes a process for the manufacture of edible protein fibers for use in food products which comprises forming a dispersion of a protein in a dispersing medium, adding to said dispersion a small amount of a modifying agent, and thereafter forcing the dispersion containing said modifying agent through an orifice into a coagulation bath to produce a quantity of fine protein filaments each containing said modifying agent substantially uniformly distributed throughout. The main purpose was to produce a meat substitute.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,943 issued on Apr. 24, 1990, a process for making a pasta filata cheese with casein having bound calcium in the range from about 1000 mg to about 300 mg per 100 g of casein and soluble proteins is known, said process comprising the steps of modifying soluble proteins to reduce reactivity of said proteins toward casein so as to produce modified soluble proteins, combining said casein, said modified soluble proteins and cheese ingredients which comprise fat to form a mixture, plasticizing the mixture to form said pasta filata cheese. Not being the product a "real" cheese, in this procedure it is necessary to add ingredients for providing an organoleptic nature similar to that of the original pasta filata, and said ingredients must be added prior to the filatura step.
None of these literatures thus provide a dairy product comprising pasta filata cheese having ingredients homogenously distributed and bound therein, said ingredients being added during the filatura step.